Movimiento campesino y oportunidades de cambio político y social. La experiencia del Valle del Yaqui (1920-1950)

This article argues that the 'failure' of ejidal collectivization in the Yaqui Valley was not fundamentally due to the conservative shift in the government after 1940, but also to the combination of actions and processes triggered by local actors. The agraristas of the valley, at the same time that they compromised with the collectivist discourse, also took advantage of the opportunity in order to become a political force; however, throughout this political game they relied on allies and enemies that operated according to a logic which escaped from their control. Furthermore, they underestimated the symbolic strength of private property in the state of Sonora, meaning that from its origins the project had fierce opposition from the peasantry in the very Yaqui Valley.